The Media Joint Action Committee has rejected the PECA act calling it a bid to muzzle the media.

The committee – consisting of reps from APNS, CPNE, PFUJ, and PBA – stated they would seek help from the court against this unlawful act.

The amendments brought by the government to PECA are an attempt to muzzle the media and place curbs on freedom of speech and dissenting voices, the body said adding that the media organizations will take legal actions to challenge any attempt to curb media’s independence and its right to raise voice against injustice.

It is "evident that the government is adamant to push through its ill-conceived and draconian agenda through various presidential ordinances. All media bodies stand united to defend freedom of expression and people’s right to information”

Reportedly, PFUJ President Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary-General Nasir Zaidi, in a joint statement, announced that they have decided to challenge the ordinance in court. 

It is alarming that instead of reforming existing laws to enforce constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and right to information, the laws are being amended to make them more coercive, they added.

“All the stakeholders, including the media community and civil society, have been agitating for and demanding withdrawal of black clauses in PECA 2016 that are against civil liberties and basic human rights ensured in both the UN Charter and the Constitution of Pakistan, but it appears that the government is now making the laws more regressive in the name of dignity and security of institutions.”